Five hundred schols for school dropouts

The Sisu Nenapola educational and trade exhibition was started to offer scholarships to our school dropouts to enable them to receive vocational training in the construction field.

We are providing 500 scholarships per month, said Construction and Engineering Services Minister Rajitha Senaratne at the opening of the Sisu Nenapola educational and trade exhibition held at Getambe grounds, Kandy recently.

He said, most of the school dropouts do not have the opportunity of receiving national level certificates or diplomas from the Government and private sector organisations.

The annual university intake is only 20,000. A student population of four lakhs is left out, after allowing for trade that absorb a substantial slice of the dropouts.

Therefore it is of national importance to formulate a programme to accommodate those left out, for gainful employment in the construction field.

Our programme envisages to provide a good training to the school dropouts in masonry, carpentry, plumbers, fitters, electricians etc. and award them the NVQ certificate, through a scholarship scheme.

“The Sisu Nenapola exhibition will be held islandwide to expand our construction fund,” he concluded.